Before Breakfast
by OnyxHarmony
Summary: (Corrupted Cole and Grumpy Zane belong to Grumpy-Zane on tumblr. Deity belongs to me. This is a little fluffy oneshot set after Frayed Ropes.) Cole is awake before Deity, and his mind begins to wander. Maybe some kind words from his Songbird can ease his mind.


Cole sleepily opened his eyes that morning, stretching as he sat up in the bed. Looking over at his sleeping girlfriend, he rose an eyebrow. He was awake first? That was..interesting. Cole carefully tugged the blanket back up to Deity's waist, shaking his head. "You've got horrible insomnia, but..you look really peaceful when you do sleep." He gently rubbed her left shoulder, making sure the movement wasn't enough to wake her. Deity snored softly and shifted under the blanket, turning with her back facing Cole. She wasn't wearing his first ninja suit like she usually did, that had been tossed in the wash. Instead, Cole had let her borrow one of his tank tops he used for training. He chuckled to himself as he sat on the bed. "I said borrow, but I'm never getting that shirt back am I?" Cole got off the bed and left the bedroom to go get some sort of breakfast..which apparently wasn't done yet, he noticed as he came into the kitchen. Zane and the others were already awake, but Zane was busy glaring at Jay and guarding the fridge while eggs cooked in the skillet. "Jay, might I remind you that I'm already cooking breakfast? So there is no need for you to raid the refrigerator." Zane said, watching Cole out of the corner of his eye. Cole slowly waved at Zane and just pointed to the coffee pot. Zane nodded and went back to defending the fridge from Jay while Cole got some coffee for Deity. Maybe this would help her wake up a bit. Jay began pleading with Zane, watching the titanium droid. "But Zane, that's not fair! Breakfast is going to take _**forever!"**_ The ginger exaggerated, crossing his arms. Cole chuckled as he walked past Jay with Deity's coffee. "Breakfast is going to _burn_ if you don't let Zane cook in peace." Cole left the kitchen and headed back to his room, watching Deity still sleeping when he came in.

Cole carefully set the coffee mug down on the desk, sitting on the bed and watching Deity. His eyes drifted to the scarred portion of her skin around her metal prosthetic, and he sighed. The corruption had made him do that. He remembered trying to stop the bleeding, watching her limp body in his arms..sending Falcon for help. Cole looked at the stained bandana tied around her wrist and smiled. Deity had kept as a sort of..comfort, he supposed. She told him that when he tried to stop the bleeding with it, it reminded her that he hadn't intended to hurt her. That it was just the corruption taking his body and mind over. Cole reached over and gently rubbed her right shoulder, chuckling a little. "You said you'd never blame me, and I guess you still don't. Though sometimes, I-" He paused when Deity shifted, pulling his hand back. Deity slowly turned onto her back, sleepily opening her eyes. "Cole..?" Her tired gaze drifted over to him and a slow smile spread on her face. "Let me guess, everyone is already up and I slept in?" Cole chuckled a little and got off the bed, grabbing her coffee off the desk and handing it to her as she sat up. "Yeah..yeah you did. It was kinda weird being awake before you." Deity watched the tan colored coffee in the cup. "I kinda..had a bad night. By the time I got done playing video games with Jay, you were already in here asleep and I was wide awake. That was..midnight? I think?" She took a sip, sighing. "I finally crashed at..seven in the morning." Cole frowned, shaking his head. "Why didn't you try and wake me up? I would've-" Deity began chuckling. "Cole, you were an immovable log. Snoring away in dreamland." Cole rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah well..I sleep pretty heavily..but are you okay?" Deity shrugged. "I didn't have nightmares, and-" She frowned when she saw Cole staring at her right shoulder.

"Cole? What's wrong?" Deity tugged on his pajama shirt to get his attention. "Hm?" Cole lifted his head back to her face. "Nothing I..-" He sighed and took her hand that was holding onto his shirt. Deity watched their hands. "You were thinking about it again, weren't you?" Cole looked down at her smaller metal hand in his. "Yeah..Yeah I was. I normally don't, but I was sorta alone with my thoughts since I woke up first. Do..Do you ever.." He swallowed, scared of what he was about to ask her. "Do you ever regret meeting me? Loving me? I mean, the corruption used me to-" Deity carefully sat her coffee on the bedside table and tugged on Cole's arm. "Come down here." Deity laid down and opened her arms, letting Cole lay his head on her chest. When Cole finally got comfortable, she laid one arm across his back and let her free hand toy with his hair. "I will never, ever regret meeting you. No matter what the corruption made you do." She gently rubbed his back, tugging the blanket over them. "Why not?" Cole asked, slipping his arms around her while he kept his head on her chest. Her heartbeat was kind of nice to listen to. Deity smiled and looked down at him. "Because I love you. I mean..we both kinda denied it at first. But..I was scared. Not of you, I was scared of letting anyone in because I didn't think I'd be worth much to you." Cole gently squeezed her, shaking his head. "I denied it because I didn't..wanna hurt you. I didn't want the corruption to hurt you." Deity shook her head and shut her eyes. "But it did. It hurt me quite a few times." Cole grumbled and squeezed her again. "I never blamed you, Cole. You hate what it makes you do. You tried to save me, remember?" She opened her eyes and untied the black bandana from her wrist, showing it to him.

Cole lifted his head from her chest for a minute, watching the bandana. "Yeah..I did. I really tried, but you kept bleeding. That was such a long time ago.." Deity tied it back around her wrist and gently cupped his cheek in her hand, rubbing her thumb over it. "It was a long time ago, yes. And what happened, even when you avoided me because you felt bad?" Cole silently watched Deity, a slow smile spreading on his face. "You stayed. You stayed with me, no matter how bad it got." She nodded. "Of course I did. I stayed because I love you, Cole. Because it was never you hurting me. It was the corruption using you to hurt me." Cole laid his head back down on her chest, squeezing her again. "I'd never hurt you on purpose." Deity shook her head and gently rubbed his back. "I know you wouldn't. Just..please remember that the next time your mind wanders, okay Rocky?" Cole slowly got up off of her and went to his desk. "Yeah..I'll try. I mean, it's not all bad right?" He turned around after digging in his desk for a while, waving a pack of washable markers. Deity chuckled and laid on her stomach. "You're gonna make us late for breakfast, Cole-" He sat down next to her, carefully lifting the back of her shirt up to her neck. "We can eat later, Zane is busy defending the fridge from Jay." Cole uncapped one of the light brown markers and began drawing over her lightning scars. He knew Deity couldn't feel this..but he knew she liked the sentiment. "What are you even doing back there?" Deity whined, trying to turn her head back to see. Cole paused and carefully turned her head back toward the door. "It's a surprise. Keep an ear out for Zane, I wanna finish this before he comes to get us for breakfast." She chuckled. "Yeah all right, Rocky. Just let me see when you're done, okay?" Cole gave a small noise of agreement and continued drawing.

Cole capped off the light brown marker and grabbed a pink one, silently drawing the flowers for the cherry blossom branches he was working on. "Cole-?" He paused, lifting his head to look at her. "Yes? What is it, Songbird?" Deity chuckled a little. "Can I move yet?" She turned her head back to him, only to gasp in surprise when Cole poked her nose with the marker and left a pink dot. "No, you gotta stay still. I'm almost done, okay?" Deity grumbled and turned her head back to the door. Cole went back to his work, chuckling a little. Soon he capped off the last marker and packed them away, getting off the bed and putting them back on the desk. "Done now?" Deity looked at Cole and pouted. "I'm hungry-" Cole knelt down and rubbed the pink dot off her nose the best he could. "Yeah, I'm all done now. Wanna see?" Deity rose an eyebrow as Cole stood up and offered his hand. She took his hand and followed him to the bathroom after getting off the bed, letting him turn her around and lift the back of her shirt up again. Deity turned her head back to look at the mirror and slowly turned pink. A good portion of her lightning scars had been drawn over and turned into cherry blossom branches. "You did all this? Why?" Cole shrugged and carefully tugged her shirt back down, turning her head back to him. "I guess you inspired me, Songbird." Deity rubbed the back of her neck, chuckling a little. "Is that so? I'm a source of inspiration, huh?" Cole lifted her chin to make her look up at him. "Yeah, you are." Cole leaned down and gave Deity a kiss, holding it for a brief moment. Deity gladly returned it, breaking it with a small smile after some time. Heading out of the room with Cole, Deity walked to the kitchen holding his hand. "You ready to eat and finally start the day, Songbird?" Cole said, sitting at the table while Zane threatened Jay with a hot spatula. Deity chuckled a little and sat down at the table.

 _ **"As long as I'm with you guys, I can start any day."**_


End file.
